Best Supporting Actress 1997

[HarryGoldfarb]

Having not seen Boogie NIghts at the time, I was rooting for Stuart, but as a lot of people said, that wa sin part because of the story behind her casting and the comeback issue. Between the 2 so-called front-runners I would still vote for late Gloria.

However, this is by far the more deserving nod Moore has received... and that is saying a lot considering how contantly solid she has been in anything. A truly supporting performance and actually an outstanding one... In my own book she should have received additional nominations for Magnolia and for that tiny/minor part in Children of Men just for filling it and inflating it beyond her own lines, for meking us remeber her throughout the whole film and even after it ends... I certainly would't vote for her in 2002 (Far from Heaven is the performance of her I like the least) and probably neither for her other two nods (considering her competition) so it is perfect to recognize her here!

[Bog]

Joan Cusack's movie wasn't a masterpiece, but she had the best lines and the comic talent to make them sound even funnier. I can understand those who are voting for her.

This should be the point though...I could be wrong, but the number of times Joan Cusack's name would have been mentioned in this thread were she not actually nominated would be zero (I'd give Damien an outside shot at listing her in his five). I'm with the chorus for the great Julianne Moore, who turns 50 soon, to win the first of multiple Oscars (here on the board).

There will always arise reasons not to give her an Oscar, but I echo all Italiano spoke of her (and it seems Catherine Keener, 50 last year) that whether or not she eventually wins or does not a little gold man we hold so dear...there is something different about her, changing every film, big or small, in which she partakes. Unfortunately, as you said, in American cinema, opportunities are not as abundant as when you are considered "overdue" as they are at the age Kate was already "overdue" 2 years past, and those opportunities are even smaller for a Keener.

It appears I knocked Moore back into the lead for now.

[Big Magilla]

Tea with Mussolini, Big Magilla?! Your opinions are always interesting, but please see it again - the movie, and its old ladies, verge on the (unintentionally) grotesque.

I've been meaning to see it again and hope do so before we get to 1999 next week.

Yes, the old ladies verge on the grotesque - Judi Dench, as I recall actually crosses the line - but I liked Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith just fine.

[ITALIANO]

Tea with Mussolini, Big Magilla?! Your opinions are always interesting, but please see it again - the movie, and its old ladies, verge on the (unintentionally) grotesque.

Minnie Driver - nothing exceptional, really.

Gloria Stuart did what she had to do in Titanic - her role, more than her performance, provided the emotional side of the movie (or at least the emotional side older viewers - and the members of the Academy aren't exactly teenagers - could more easily relate to), and then there was that comeback story. Her nomination may have been a nice gesture towards a nice old actress, but we are not too far from Jocelyn La Garde-territory.

Unfortunately. L A Confidential is a very, how shall I put it, "cold", intentionally cold, movie. It may be a tribute to the great film noirs of the past, but it doesn't have, actually it carefully avoids, their affecting, often morbid sexual obsession, which sometimes bordered on the fetishistic. Because otherwise Kim Basinger's ageing blonde beauty, and her resemblance to Veronica Lake, could have reached interesting, and even rather profound, levels. Another director would have made something more of her bitterness, too, but Curtis Hanson didnt, not because he couldnt but because he didnt want to. So, in the end, it's not much more than a nice performance.

Joan Cusack's movie wasn't a masterpiece, but she had the best lines and the comic talent to make them sound even funnier. I can understand those who are voting for her.

Or maybe I can't. Nowadays, let's face it, the best roles for women and the best performances by women are in European or Asian movies; American actresses used to be the best but aren't anymore - the last generation of truly great American actresses is the one Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Jessica Lange belong to. And the last time a consistently good American performer won the Best Actress Oscar happened when? - almost fifteen years ago. But there are still exceptions - women who are not only talented, but daring, surprising, and willing to face the (few, I guess) challenging and complex roles which come their way. Maybe because I am European, I appreciate this type of actresses more than American themselves do - I feel them closer to me, and I find them fascinating. It's possible that they will never win Oscars, but never mind. One of them is a two-time Supporting nominee, but we haven't seen her here yet. Another is Julianne Moore, and the moment I saw her in Boogie Nights I realized that the American cinema had found a unique face and personality, an actress who, in the right roles and with the right directors, could do for American cinema what for example (and I'm not exaggerating) an Isabelle Huppert is still doing for French cinema - though of course in a different cultural context and in different kinds of movies. I swear that I will not ALWAYS vote for her - and I already know that there's one nominated performance when I certainly won't - but she's by far the best of these five in Boogie Nights.



Edited By ITALIANO on 1289651687

[Uri]

Whatever Mister Tee said. I voted for Cusack.

[Precious Doll]

A mixed bunch of reasonable nominees with the clear standout being Julianne Moore.

My choices:

1. Julianne Moore for Boogie Nights
2. Claire Rushbrook for Under the Skin
3. Debbie Morgan for Eve's Bayou
4. Eli Anne Linnestad for Junk Mail
5. Lara Flynn Boyle for Afterglow

Also of note and better then the other four nominees were Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown, Natassja Kinski & Ming Na in One Night Stand & Sigourney Weaver in The Ice Storm.



Edited By Precious Doll on 1289640753

[OscarGuy]

I can't really understand Minnie Driver's nomination. It was clearly a part of the film's sweep.

Kim Basinger is just not that great in L.A. Confidential. I consider her win to be an embarrassment.

Not that the at-the-time alternative, Gloria Stuart, was a deserving winner, but it would have been a far greater tribute than Basinger's win.

Joan Cusack is quite funny in In & Out, but it's not a terribly complex role for her. She's done that performance so many times it really shouldn't be considered more than par-for-the-course.

The undeniable winner here in Julianne Moore. Her performance is far and away the most marvelous work of the year. I would even classify this as one of the all-time great performances. Everything that has made me love Moore before or since revolves around this performance. She has given many performances that approach this one in terms of quality, but she is simply perfect. Despite her profession, she is the moral center of the film. She's both desperate and strong. She puts so much pain and sorrow into this performance, conviction, eloquence, it's all there. This is a master class. Ok. I think I'm done with the superlatives, though I'm sure I could come up with plenty more.

The clear second choice for me would be the one most often mentioned as sadly overlooked. This was the crowning jewel in Christina Ricci's oeuvre. She's an underappreciated actress who probably deserved at least three nominations from the Academy, possibly more (The Addams Family, The Ice Storm, The Opposite of Sex).



Edited By OscarGuy on 1289625456

[FilmFan720]

There is only once acceptable choice, for me, for the award this year, but alas the Academy didn't nominate poor Christina Ricci, who gives one of the most mature and mesmerizing child performances in history (of course, in my book she would have several nominations and a win already). Sarah Polley runs a close second, but also was left out of the race.

Of the nominees, Julianne Moore and Joan Cusack are the only two I would consider nomination worthy. I give the edge to Moore, since I like the movie much more (I think it is really one of the great, and underappreciated, works of American cinema from the last half of the decade). If you haven't checked out In & Out in a while, though, it has held up very well and is a great comedy. Cusack is excellent in it.

Other worthy nominees: Kathy Bates in Titanic (much better than Gloria Stuart); Bridget Fonda in Jackie Brown; Parker Posey and Catherine O'Hara in Waiting for Guffman; Julia-Louis Dreyfuss and Judy Davis in Deconstructing Harry; Heather Graham in Boogie Nights; Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding (if only for the karaoke scene)

[anonymous1980]

I concur with a lot of people here the reasons behind Kim Basinger's win. I don't begrudge her her win. She's seldom been as good before or since. So good for her.

Gloria Stuart gives a nice performance and her comeback story was fascinating. Which is probably the reason I was rooting for her over Basinger in the two-way race going into this year's Oscars.

Minnie Driver was CLEARLY swept up by the overall love for Good Will Hunting. She only really had one good scene: When Matt Damon's character dumps her. That's it, really. Nothing particularly Oscar-worthy.

It's a neck-in-neck race between Joan Cusack and Julianne Moore for me. Joan Cusack was really funny and as the jilted bride. She specializes in these types of roles and she does them perfectly.

But Julianne Moore was simply sublime as Amber Waves in Boogie Nights. Her breakdown outside the courtroom when she lost custody of her son alone was heartbreaking. She gets my vote.



Edited By anonymous on 1289619193

[dws1982]

Any choice here is going to be a default one for me. Titanic is the only one of these movies I've seen in the past five years, but something about Minnie Driver in Good Will Hunting sticks with me, far more than any of the other nominees. She gets my vote.

My picks for 1997:
1- Debbie Morgan, Eve's Bayou
2- Kathy Baker, Inventing the Abbotts
3- Allison Elliot, The Wings of the Dove
4- Judy Davis, Deconstructing Harry (and Blood and Wine)
5- Bridget Fonda, Jackie Browne

[Kova]

Nelligan and Elliot would have definitely been stronger choices than Basinger, Stuart, or Driver.

I didn't pay any attention to the SAG awards this year, so Driver's nomination really left me stunned. I can't remember anything about the performance (or the role, other than that she was Damon's girlfriend), and it's hard to remember how she briefly became one of Hollywood's "it" girls after this performance.

I loved L.A. Confidential, but I don't find anything award-worthy in Basinger's performance (really, what does she do in this film beyond looking a lot like Veronica Lake?). I was somewhat content with her win, though, only because it stopped an absolute Titanic tidal wave.

Stuart is fine in Titanic, but this nomination mostly results from enthusiasm for her film and her backstory. Aside from the scene in which she recalls only one rescue boat coming back for the stranded passengers, I don't remember much about her work.

For me, this one boils down to Moore vs. Cusack--the latter from a film that quickly faded from public memory and the former from a film I loathe. Moore is admirably capable of cutting through P.T. Anderson's smugness by creating a character with whom I could genuinely sympathize: no small feat. But I have to give my vote to Cusack. Sure, she's over the top, but she makes her character far more entertaining and arresting than it deserves to be. I'm always delighted to see her on screen, and In and Out is probably her strongest vehicle.



Edited By Kova on 1289625029

[The Original BJ]

It looks like we'll be all over the place this year; I agree with portions of what's been said so far, but disagree with others.

For me, Julianne Moore was so superior to any of the other nominees it should have been no contest. I think she's miraculous in Boogie Nights -- warm and touching as the de facto mother of this ragtag group, hilarious in her bad acting scenes ("That is a giant cock" among her biggest laughs), and devastating as the coked out mom struggling not to lose custody of her child. I've been a huge fan of Moore over the years, and I think it's a great shame that she lost this award for one of her best roles. She gets my vote without any hesitation, and a win by any of the other nominees would have been disappointing for me.

All of that said...I don't dislike any of the other nominees, and though this clearly wasn't a banner field, I think it's easy to underrate some of these performances.

Basinger's win was really weird, for the two reasons Mister Tee cites: 1) she clearly won as a way to throw a bone to L.A. Confidential, which voters knew would lose most of its awards to Titanic, despite the fact that Supporting Actress was probably the category least deserving of a win out of all of L.A. Confidential's nominations and 2) she was the only acting nominee from a fantastic ensemble, not because she gave the most notable performance in the film, but because hers was the easiest to separate from the others by virtue of her gender.

I will agree that Basinger's win was disappointing. But where I don't agree is that her work was lacking -- I thought she made a memorable impression as Lynne Bracken. She had a quality about her that suggested both icy coolness and red-hot passion, and her rat-a-tat dialogue sparring with Russell Crowe excitingly recalled the classic noir exchanges between gumshoes and femmes fatales. And the scene after she gets beat up is particularly powerful. I don't think Basinger is, on the whole, a very unique actress, but I felt she was well used here.

Joan Cusack, on the other hand, is a very unique actress, and In & Out was a great fit for her abilities. In addition to the scenes Mister Tee mentions, I'll throw out the hilarious sequence that includes "Is everybody gay? Is this the Twilight Zone?!" and ends with her running down the highway screaming "Heterosexual male! This is a medical emergency!" She was a lot of fun, if broad. Her movie was well-meaning, though not particularly deep, and though her work is a little too slight for me to vote for her to win, she was quite entertaining.

Of the two neck-in-neck candidates this year, I definitely preferred Basinger to Stuart, so there was at least some silver lining in the former's win. Stuart's part is pretty tiny, and it's not what you'd really call much of a performance -- a win for her would have been for strictly sentimental reasons. And yet, it's nice that she got this recognition -- I can't imagine she ever would have thought in 1996 that she'd have gone to her grave an Oscar nominee. And her presence in the movie was really lovely, warm and wise. Some of her dialogue haunts me to this day ("The china had never been used. The sheets had never been slept in. Titanic was called the ship of dreams, and it was..."). Not anywhere near win-level, but an important contribution to the movie, and an exciting last career hurrah.

Oh...Minnie Driver. With her I have to bring up a dilemma that's always been difficult for me to wrestle with, and maybe others have the same problem: I find it nearly impossible to be completely objective when evaluating the artistic work of someone you actually know. And as I've worked with Ms. Driver, that colors the way that I view her performances. To attempt objectivity...I'll say that I agree that she wouldn't have received this nomination had Good Will Hunting not been such a success. But I disagree that she was forgettable in the film -- I think she's really charming in her part. It's not a particularly challenging role, but she was funny, touching, and charismatic. And I'll add -- tactfully, I hope -- that this is all the more impressive to me because she is not especially like this in real life.

Of the also-rans, I would support Sarah Polley's hugely moving performance in The Sweet Hereafter. And though I liked Christina Ricci's work in The Ice Storm a lot (especially that Thanksgiving dinner scene), I did think Sigourney Weaver's character was the most interesting in the film, and her performance the most nuanced. Regarding Alison Elliot, I thought The Wings of the Dove was a splendid production, but I found her the weak link of the film, a little too chilly, and lacking the passion that I felt necessary for her role.



Edited By The Original BJ on 1289629975

[Damien]

Easy choice for me.

I have loved Kim Basinger at times, and she's my 1983 Supporting Actress choice for Blake Edwards's The Man Who Loved Women. I just don't get what she supposedly did in L.A. Confidential, but then again the movie itself was ludicrously overrated.

Gloria Stuart's comeback was a wonderful story and by all reports she was a lovely woman -- and a Hollywood progressive in her early days. But the sad truth is that she's just not very good in Titanic. Her line readings are painfully wooden.

I've never found Minnie Driver remotely appealing -- she seems like someone I would edge away from if she started talking to me at a party -- and she of course got pulled along on Good Will Hunting's coattails, a la Apollo 13's Kathleen Quinlan. Thoroughly undistinguished work.

The best thing about Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights is her character's name, Amber Waves.

Joan Cusack is both extremely funny and quite touching -- without overtly seeking the audience's sympathy -- in In and Out. She's a first-rate comic actress actress and is head and shoulders above the competition here.

My Own Top 5:
1. Linda Kash in Waiting For Guffman
2. Hazelle Goodman in Deconstructing Harry
3. Vanessa Zima in Ulee's Gold
4. Joan Cusack in In And Out
5. Sigourney Weaver in The Ice Storm

[Aceisgreat]

The late Gloria Stuart rises above the standard old timer routine and would be my second choice. But I'll throw Kim Basinger my vote before (I suspect) the bashfest begins. Her menacing, cleavage galore image on her film's poster, plus her entrance in the film itself, suggested to me a typical femme fatale. But she brings her distinct vulnerability to the table along with the icy cool and her chemistry with Russell Crowe is quite tender. And yes, Sigourney Weaver should have been nominated.

[Sabin]

My Picks:
1. Julianne Moore, Boogie Nights
2. Sarah Polley, The Sweet Hereafter
3. Minnie Driver, Grosse Point Blank
4. Christine Ricci, The Ice Storm
5. Stacey Edwards, In the Company of Men

The Golden Globes nominated Kim Basinger, Joan Cusack, Julianne Moore, Gloria Stuart, and Sigourney Weaver. The Screen Actor's Guild nominated Kim Basinger, Minnie Driver, Alison Elliot, Julianne Moore, and Gloria Stuart. Elliot came out of the blue for me, but I remember thinking that Joan Cusack would be the odd woman out. I thought Julianne Moore would sweep the critic's awards. Cusack's win at the New York Critic's Circle was a welcome surprise. That Basinger and Stuart were the front-runners in the race is rather fitting because both are fine, serviceable nominees. I was happy for Basinger because it was quite clear that she was never going to be in this position again, and the joy she displayed was quite real.

Minnie Driver was far better as John Cusack's girlfriend in Grosse Point Blank, but she was swept along with Good Will Hunting. Joan Cusack is a strange comedienne, very difficult to cast because her tendency is to go very awkward and very big. In & Out is pretty much the perfect role for her. The movie played to the cheap seat's, but everyone in it was very funny. Julianne Moore is a no-brainer for me. This performance marked the end of her HOLY SHIT, WHO IS THIS AMAZING [NAKED] ACTRESS? period. She gives the best nominated performance of 1997. I wish the Academy had outstretched a branch to nominate Christina Ricci or Sarah Polley.